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Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Rising Malevolence
In the Abregado system, Plo Koon's flotilla of three Republic attack cruisers close in on a silhouetted enemy vessel. Aboard the Triumphant, Plo Koon orders his first officer, Commander Wolffe, to contact Coruscant and relay their position prior to attack. Master Plo makes contact with Anakin Skywalker's fleet stationed in the nearby Bith system, and warmly greets Ahsoka Tano. There is little Skywalker can do to support Plo Koon, as he has been ordered to protect the staging area. Just then, the communications are cut off -- jammed from the Separatist warship, Malevolence. Ahsoka is gravely concerned about her old friend, Plo Koon, and urges Skywalker to launch a rescue. Anakin demands patience and silence from her as he contacts the Jedi Council. The holographic avatars of Mace Windu, Chancellor Palpatine, Yoda and Obi-Wan are discussing the predations of General Grievous' mystery weapon, which has managed to strike in over a dozen systems and disappear without a trace. Anakin updates the Council of Master Plo's entrance into the Abregado system. Meanwhile, the Triumphant and the Malevolence close distance. At Count Dooku's order, General Grievous fires the vessel's primary weapon, an immense ion cannon that blasts a disc of disruptive energy that washes over the three Republic ships. As lightning dances across their hulls, energy is leeched from the warships, leaving the taskforce without shields or weapons. The Malevolence opens fire, blasting apart the defenseless ships. Plo Koon orders all hands to the escape pods. Master Plo enters a pod with Wolffe, and the clone troopers Sinker and Boost. Wolffe reports the grim news that their power grid has burned out, limiting life support and communications. Aboard the Malevolence, Grievous relishes the destructive power of his new weapon. Count Dooku orders pod-hunters dispatched into the wreckage to ensure that there are no survivors who could report on the weapon's location or capabilities. Anakin continues his report to the Council. Plo Koon's taskforce has vanished, and the absence of distress beacons suggests that the vessels were wiped out. Given the precedence set by the previous Malevolence strikes, Plo Koon is believed to be dead. Mace Windu assigns Skywalker's taskforce to protect vital convoy missions, but Ahsoka speaks up, urging the Council to search for Plo Koon. Anakin chastises her for speaking out of turn. Anakin orders Admiral Yularen to deploy the task force to protect against any enemies who may threaten the convoys, while he and Ahsoka scout ahead aboard the Twilight. The air in the pod is beginning to thin. Trooper Sinker points out that, strategically, it makes little sense to come looking for a missing pod over looking for the Malevolence, but Master Plo stresses the value of the troopers' lives. Suddenly, the clones spot another pod floating in the wreckage. It has been sliced open, and the clone troopers within float lifelessly. Something is out there... something that can breach escape pod hulls. The Twilight lifts off from Anakin's flagship, Resolute, and Skywalker orders Artoo to input coordinates. The spice freighter blasts into hyperspace. Obi-Wan Kenobi's flagship, Negotiator, does its part in protecting the vital Republic convoys. Kenobi radios Admiral Yularen to check on Anakin's progress, and Yularen reveals that Skywalker has "redeployed" himself. The Twilight emerges in the Abregado system, and rather than search for the Malevolence, Anakin orders Artoo to calibrate the sensors to look for life-forms. Ahsoka is surprised to find that Anakin has bent the rules to look for Plo Koon. Skywalker explains that he had always intended to look for survivors, but how he dealt with the Jedi Council is what he was trying to teach to Ahsoka. Rather than be directly confrontational, as Ahsoka was, Anakin instead is choosing to creatively interpret his mandate. Meanwhile, aboard the escape pod, Sinker and Boost restart the power grid. Wolffe intercepts a signal from Pod 1977, currently under attack. Elsewhere in the debris field, the pod-hunter vessel latches its pincers onto Pod 1977. A squad of four rocket-equipped battle droids emerges from the pod-hunter and uses built-in torches to cut into the pod. Plo Koon and his clones listen in horror at the sounds of men suffocating to death in cold vacuum as the droids breach the Pod 1977's hull. The Twilight's scanners probe the debris field with little luck. Ahsoka explains to Anakin that Master Plo was the Jedi Master who found her and brought her to the Jedi Temple. Obi-Wan Kenobi, sounding tired of once again dealing with Anakin's maverick stunts, communicates with Skywalker to get his position. Ahsoka tries to take the blame, but there are more pressing matters. Obi-Wan urges Anakin to return to the defensive escorts. The Republic needs him at the rendezvous point. Anakin agrees, and starts to turn the Twilight around. Suddenly, R2-D2 picks up a signal on the emergency channel. The battle droid hunting team spot Plo Koon's escape pod and close in. Its pincers enclose the pod. Plo Koon, whose Kel Dor physiology can withstand vacuum for a brief time, decides to face the threat head-on. He orders Boost and Sinker to accompany him. They done their helmets and leave the pod, just as the pod-hunter's pincers squeeze their tiny lifeboat. Wolffe stays behind to keep the emergency communication signal alive. Plo Koon and his clones intercept the battle droid team, while the Twilight searches the wreckage to pinpoint the source of the weak emergency signal. The pod-hunters pincers start to squeeze the pod, which immediately begins venting its precious atmosphere. With Sinker and Boost covering him, Plo Koon cuts through the pod-hunter's heavy arms with his lightsaber. Using the Force, Master Plo shoves the pod away, causing it to collide in the debris field. On Coruscant, Palpatine continues conferring with the Jedi Council. Obi-Wan reveals that Anakin -- on his own authority -- is searching for survivors amid the wreckage of Plo Koon's fleet. Mace and Yoda grouse about Anakin's reckless decisions. Palpatine contacts Anakin, relaying the disappointment among the Council. Palpatine implores Anakin to return to the fleet. Ahsoka, meanwhile, reaches out with the Force, and senses a connection to Plo Koon. Before the Twilight can depart, she takes control of the ship, and charges into the debris field. She finds Plo Koon's pod, and launches a tow cable, reeling the lifeboat into the Twilight's cramped hold. Exhausted, Plo Koon, Boost and Sinker are inspected by the Twilight's 2-1B medical droid. Master Plo asks if there were any other survivors, but Anakin confirms there were none. As the clones recover in the hold, Plo Koon follows Anakin and Ahsoka to the bridge of the Twilight for debriefing. He explains that the mystery weapon is an ion cannon. The sensors detect a massive vessel approaching. Plo Koon quickly orders them to shut down all power systems before they are detected. Reluctantly, Ahsoka shuts down R2-D2. In their haste, however, they forgot about the medical droid tending to the clones. The droid sensor operators aboard the Malevolence detect the 2-1B's energy signature. The Twilight is found! Dooku wants no witnesses; General Grievous orders the warship to attack. Anakin hurriedly restarts the Twilight, and attempts to flee through the debris field. Plo Koon reactivates Artoo, and the little droid must program the navicomputer to jump... anywhere! The Malevolence fires its ion cannon. Anakin twists and turns the vessels through the debris field, narrowly outrunning the ion blast. R2-D2 delivers a viable set of coordinates at the last instant, and the ship clears the wreckage, leaping into hyperspace. Grievous has failed Dooku: the Republic now knows the nature of the superweapon threat. At the Republic rendezvous point, the Twilight lands aboard the Resolute. In talking with Wolffe, Anakin credits Ahsoka for their rescue. Plo Koon and Skywalker then head to report to the Council. Anakin insists Ahsoka accompany him, because, after all, if he's getting in trouble for this, she should share in the blame as well.